Hollow Fox
by Dokugin
Summary: At five, Naruto was content with life. When someone shows him a small act of kindness, both of them die. In death, Naruto goes to a desert of endless white sand...


**Uzumaki Naruto was content with his life. Too bad no one else was. Gone at the age of five, his death stirs up a maelstrom of anguish inside him. He dies, and goes to a place with a desert of endless white sand… **

**As something of a remainder, this chapter is only to gauge people's reactions. It's not going to go "active" until I get to chapter 10 of another story. I'm really pushing right now to get to the Chunin exams for Zero Pressure. It'll be pretty exciting.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Naruto or Bleach. **

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Chapter 1: Passing Days

'_Why?'_ He asked himself sadly, _'Why?' _

He had never been special, he had never been outstanding. He'd never done anything wrong and he'd never wanted to do anything wrong. He just lived life as days passed, drifting aimlessly through the village causing no one trouble. It was something of a boring life, but he was fine with it.

The question he was asking then, was why would someone want to kill someone, who had done nothing wrong?

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It had been another of those days where he was just drifting around the village, no destination in mind. Every day of his life had been like this, where he would have nothing to do but wander. Sometimes, during his "travels" he found cool things. He once found a nice toy action figure of a ninja. It had been his most prized possession, and the thing that drove him to want to become a ninja. Then it was forcefully confiscated from him, and he was left with nothing.

Turning a corner on the street, he shuffled aimlessly down. It was the shopping district of Konoha, the hidden village in which he resided. His hands were stuffed into his raggedy pants and his messy blonde hair gave him the look of a street urchin. Maybe that was why people always glared at him constantly.

He passed by a fruit stand, where the man was giving out free samples of fruit. A large crowd was situated in front of it, and hadn't seemed to notice the small little boy in the background. Quietly and swiftly, he went through the crowd.

It was something of a game to him. Be as quiet as possible, and make sure you don't hit anything or touch anyone. He always did something like that when he was in a crowd. He considered it his ninja training, since he knew he didn't have enough money or a social standing to make it into the ninja academy.

He could probably ask the old man for some money, but he didn't want to intrude after everything the man had given him. The old man in the white robes had once saved him from a mob of people, who were demanding the death of the demon. He just thought their eyesight in the dark was bad.

He made it to the stand, and the man who owned it finally noticed him.

"Here you go kid." He smiled, throwing an apple into Naruto's hands. He reached down and ruffled his hair, to the disgust of the villagers. They left the stand, leaving the confused owner and a downcast Naruto.

"Wonder why they left?" The owner asked to himself. Though Naruto knew the question wasn't directed at him, he felt obligated to answer anyways.

"It was probably because of me, Fruit Stand Owner-san." He said quietly. The owner looked at him, and Naruto explained further. "Not many people in this village like me and they all do their best to stay away from me."

The owner let out a thoughtful noise, before picking an apple off the stand and munching into it. "What a load of bull. Why would these people hate an adorable little kid like you?"

Naruto shrugged, biting into his own apple. It was sweet and crunchy, just like how he liked it.

They both ate in silence, the owner looking at the passing customers who sneered at Naruto and kept walking. Naruto ignored them all, just standing there and eating his apple.

"What a bunch of crazy people." The owner finally said, before taking another apple from his stand. He threw it at Naruto, who caught it with quick hands. He closed the stand, and turned towards Naruto. "Least you were honest and stuck around to the end. I'll just move again, probably to Suna. I hear their businesses went bad, so I can probably make some good money there."

Naruto nodded, and said, "I wish you the best of luck, Fruit Stand Owner-san. Thank you for both apples, and not being like the rest of these villagers." He bowed deeply to the man, before walking away and taking another bite from his apple.

It was around noon that he sat at a park bench and rested his tired legs. He had been standing on them all morning, just wandering.

He leaned back on the bench, ignoring the crowds of people sneering at him as they walked by. Tilting his head to the heavens, he watched the clouds float past his head. They must feel so peaceful, so nice up in the sky. Just watching them made him want to start floating, just as they did. He didn't know why, but it felt like the sky was where all the calm in this world was, in a sea of chaos.

He let out a sigh and closed his eyes, saying his catch phrase, "It's all so troublesome."

"What's troublesome?" A voice said to his left, and he felt more weight on the bench coming from his right. The sound of a bag being crumpled reached his ears, and he opened his eyes, facing the two newcomers.

To his left was a kid kid with black hair tied into a ponytail on top of his head. For some reason, it reminded him of a pineapple. To his right was a chubby boy who had his hand stuck in a bag of potato chips and what looked like underwear over his head. It looked like the boy with the pineapple on his head was the one who asked the question so it was he Naruto answered.

"The clouds." He told him simply, to which the boy responded with a confused look.

"The clouds? How are the clouds troublesome?"

Naruto irritably sighed, and swung himself to a hunched position on the bench.

"They're always up in the sky, like they don't have a care in the world. Imagine if you were all the way up there. You'd be looking down, and seeing nothing more than specks on the ground."

"So?" The black haired boy answered, "Who cares if you see specks on the ground?"

"Exactly. You wouldn't care. I wish life was like that, where you wouldn't have a care at all. It's all so troublesome, thinking about it all. It's best to not do anything, until you have to do something."

The boy made a thoughtful sound, as the boy to his right finished his bag of chips.

"Where'd you think that up?" The big boy asked him.

Naruto didn't say anything for a few moments, wondering where he actually did. It just came to him out of nowhere. He had picked up the habit a few years ago, when he had heard someone with black hair say it to whom he presumed to be his wife.

"I have a lot of time on my hands." He said finally, "Things happen when you sit and wait. That's how man has lived his whole life, and how he is destined to live his whole life."

"You sound a lot like those slips in the fortune cookies." Big Boy said, pulling out another bag of potato chips from… somewhere.

Naruto let out a little chuckle, realizing how corny his words had sounded, "I guess you're right." He looked to the skies, seeing the sun making it's slow descent into the horizon. "I'll be going now then."

He walked away, just as a black haired woman came to the bench where the two boys sat.

"Who was that?" The black haired woman asked, a load of shopping bags under her arm.

Before the big boy could say anything, the kid with the dark hair spoke, "No idea, hahaoya (1)."

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The sun had gone down and he had still not reached his apartment. It was a very old one, but the owner was actually kind to him. This was given him to the same man who had saved his life many years ago. He had told him that he would stop by every once and a while to see how he was doing and every time he came, he brought with him a small envelop of money. It was just enough for a month and the old man would be coming soon, maybe even tonight.

He walked up to the apartment of the owner and knocked on the door four times. It was their personal signal that told the owner that Naruto was back and home safely. If he didn't knock, then he would have to call the man in white robes, and they would search for him. It was only a precaution, something the old man had warned him of.

He turned the corner of the apartment building and went upstairs, headed for his room on the second floor. He fiddled around inside his pockets for his keys, and opened the door.

Immediately, the smell of rotten eggs and garbage assailed his nostrils. Littered around the inside of his apartment was trash and written words on the wall. He couldn't read, so he ignored those things. Someone had probably wanted to play a joke on him, but the thing he couldn't figure out was why they only decided to play the joke on him.

He sighed, knowing he wouldn't be sleeping in this room tonight.

He walked down the stairs, past the owner's room. He didn't want to disturb or worry him, making the old man lose a precious night of sleep. The owner was getting old and it was only a matter of time before he fell apart completely.

The moon was hung in the sky and its light washed down all around him. It allowed him to see the streets he walked and he slowly made his way through the dirt streets. Walking down the streets, few people passed him. They gave him a wide berth, as if he carried some fatal disease. It had always been this way, as long as he could remember. Even if they didn't shoot him dirty looks like the rest of them, they still kept their distance.

He didn't know why he was constantly singled out, or why he was always alone. He probably didn't even want the answer. He was content with just drifting.

His musings and simultaneous drifting brought him to the fruit stand of the kind owner. There was a sheet drawn over the goods, but the man was nowhere to be seen. He looked around for him near the stand, his eyes wandering everywhere.

The kind man was nowhere to be seen.

He shrugged his shoulders, walking onwards. If he wasn't there, then he could do nothing about it.

More drifting occurred, until he heard sounds coming from an alleyway. His instincts told him to ignore it, but the sounds were coming closer. Thinking quickly, he darted behind a nearby barrel with his small frame easily obscured.

"You bitch!" shouted a man. He heard something thud against something else, and then a low moan of pain.

"W- -cough- What?" another man's voice asked. It seemed like this man was just about to say something more, but his words were cut off when he heard a metallic clang.

"Shut up!" A louder male voice sneered and Naruto heard the sound of something swinging through the air, "You should know better!"

"W-," His voice was silenced as a loud crack and thud sounded.

"Yeah, don't go messing around with demons!" A loud whack came from that direction, and Naruto couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to know what the hell was going on. The fact that the two men referred to something as a demon made him think that the conversation might have been about him.

He peeked his small, blue eyes over the top of the barrel and ducked back down.

"Fruit Stand Owner-san." He panted, his eyes wide with fear.

The man had been laying on the ground, his eyes dilated. As if seeing some hallucination he was reaching outwards towards something, just as a large pool of blood was forming beneath him. Cuts and bruises were all over his body and his clothes were torn. Two men had been on either side of him, one holding a shovel and the other with his hands in his pockets. It was obvious what had been happening.

"Demon?" He heard the fruit stand owner cough out, "What dem-,"

Naruto winced as he heard the whistling of the shovel as it went through the air and collided with what he assumed to be the back of the Fruit Stand Owner.

"Baka! Don't try messing with us! We know you know that he's the demon!" Naruto winced once more as he heard the shovel hit the fruit stand owner once more.

"We'll teach you real good about messing with that demon!" He heard the sound of leather impacting against flesh, and knew that one of the men had just kicked the poor fruit stand owner.

"What demon?" He asked suddenly from behind the barrel. His voice apparently startled the two men and the owner, as all their eyes began darting around. He didn't even know why he had spoken. It had just come out, as if something inside him wanted to know the answer to the question. Already, the logic kept dormant in his mind was at work and the denials he had forced himself to believe were being broken down.

When they did not respond, he peeked out over his cover. They were searching for him, and the fruit stand owner was lying helplessly on the ground, bleeding to death.

'_Why?'_ He asked himself sadly, _'Why?' _

He had never been special, he had never been outstanding. He'd never done anything wrong and he'd never wanted to do anything wrong. He just lived life as days passed, drifting aimlessly through the village causing no one trouble. It was something of a boring life, but he was fine with it.

The question he was asking then, was why would someone want to kill someone, who had done nothing wrong?

"Why?" He finally said out loud, and the fruit stand owner's eyes went to him and widened.

"Run," He said faintly, "Run kid."

A foot was raised and then slammed into the back of the man's head. Naruto watched in morbid fascination as he heard a slight crack and watched as the fruit stand owner's body went still. It took him a moment to register the fact that the man had died.

He stood frozen in shock, as the two men in front of him smiled evilly.

"Well look, the demon's here and saw what just happened." The man with the shovel said, as his partner lifted his foot off the fruit stand owner's crumpled head. "Think we should take care of him?"

The other man grinned, and walked over to the still shocked Naruto.

'_Why? He did nothing wrong. Why did they kill him? He didn't need to die.' _He stared sadly at the corpse. He never expected someone to respond though.

'_**I should have intervened earlier.' **_A distant, growling voice said to him in his mind. _**'You would never have grown up so damn soft.' **_

Naruto stared wildly around him for the voice, ignoring the swift kick to his stomach that flung him into a wall.

"Who is it? Who's there?" He asked wildly.

The two men laughed, and another kick landed on Naruto.

"Looks like the demon has finally lost it, after seeing his little slave die right before his eyes. Might as well end his sorry existence." The man with the shovel raised it high above his head. Naruto did not move, still wondering why he was called a demon.

'_Demon? I'm the demon?' _Naruto said to himself, a little confused.

'_**No you little fool. You are obviously no demon. Demons have power, demons are respected, and demons could not be so easily killed. You, who is nothing but a small child, could never be a demon.' **_The same distant growling voice answered.

"I'm about to die!" He said out loud, much to the amusement of the two men. "I don't want to die!"

"Well, you're about to anyway!" The two men laughed, and Naruto squeezed shut his eyes.

'_**So, this is how it will end then,' **_The voice in his mind said, _**'With my weak, human container and no shinigami around. I wonder what will happen next.' **_

Naruto barely heard the voice, as the sharp end of the man's shovel went ripping through his neck, effectively sentencing him to death.

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**Well, there was chapter 1, and here's a preview for chapter 2. **

**Preview: **Looking out at the endless desert of white sand, he saw small figures moving on the horizon. It was a strange thought, knowing that looking upon any of them who almost be like looking at a reflection of himself….

**Anyways, there you go. Just as something of a teaser. I've got plans for this, that's why I'm pre-writing more chapters. **

**Next one will probably be out when one of my stories reaches at least chapter 10. I've already got the next few chapters written on paper so… yeah. **

**Word Count: 2,924**

**Time: No idea…. **

**Page Count: 6**


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